Plot twist: Confidence Can’t Be Taught

Here’s a plot twist most riders don’t expect:

The most powerful things you can do to increase your confidence and composure on the bike can’t be put into words and taught as a tactic or strategy.

They’re gained by spending time in person, on trail, with a mentor who operates from a calm, collected, and confident place. Something shifts. And it’s not because they told you some hidden secret.

That might sound frustrating in a world full of tutorials, drills, and step-by-step frameworks, but if you’ve ever ridden with someone who just has it, you already know this to be true.

'But Jake, what about all your remote coaching and online tutorials?'

Great point. These are still incredibly valuable tools in your journey on the bike, BUT only when they’re used as part of the strategy, not THE strategy. Remote coaching, online learning, video feedback, and structured lessons all play an important role. They give you language, awareness, understanding, and direction.

But confidence doesn’t come from information alone.

It comes from embodiment.

And that’s where in-person, on-trail mentorship comes in.

Confidence is contagious (and yes, there’s science behind it)

You’ve probably heard the saying that we become like the people we spend the most time with. That’s not just motivational fluff, it’s biology.

As humans, our brains evolved over thousands of years to prioritise fitting into a tribe. For survival.

Because of that, our nervous systems are constantly scanning the people around us for cues of safety or threat.

When you ride with someone who stays calm when the trail gets steep, composed when things get slippery, and grounded when mistakes happen, your own nervous system starts to downshift.

This process is called co-regulation.

In simple terms: Calm attracts calm.

Your body begins to mirror their breathing, their posture, their pacing, and their decision making - often without you realising it. This is also the reason we are often our 'most sendy' or most inspired when we ride in groups of other stoked riders.

Mirror neurons and why 'seeing' it in person matters

There’s another mechanism at play here too: mirror neurons. These are neurons in the brain that fire not only when we perform an action, but when we watch someone else perform it.

So when you observe a mentor ride smoothly through technical terrain, your brain is already rehearsing that movement internally. That’s why riding with a skilled and composed rider often makes hard features begin to look and feel more manageable before you even attempt them.

Your brain has already decided: 'This is possible. This is safe.'

Now, when we watch videos of riding or tutorials online, we often gain useful information - 'Ok, got it, that's the line' or 'Ahh, I can see what she did there to hop over the rock'. However, what is missing is the energy that can only truly be sensed in real life on-trial settings.

Why calm beats hype every time

When fear spikes, so do stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.

That’s great if you’re running from a bear. Not so great if you’re trying to modulate brakes, stay balanced, and make good decisions on a sketchy descent.

A calm mentor helps keep your stress response in check. Which means:

• Better fine motor control

• Wider vision

• More adaptability

• Higher likelihood of trying new things

• Less tension in the body

This is why confidence isn’t a mindset you 'think' your way into. And this is why shouting 'You got this babe' up the trail at your boy/girlfriend isn't always helpful.

Confidence is a physiological state you learn to access and trigger in certain environments.

Who you ride with shapes the way your ride

So knowing all this, progression actually becomes a much simpler question:

Who do I want to mirror? Who do I admire as a rider? How do they show up when things get challenging?

Sure, I’d love to ride with Gracey Hemstreet or Greg Minnaar too 😂.

But outside of that being unlikely any time soon, it would also be too big of a jump. The gap matters. Set the goal too far away from our current abilities, and we create pressure, stress, and mental interference that takes away from our ability to use the skills we know we have.

Instead, I choose to ride with people who are just one or two 'levels' ahead of me. People whose operating system I want to install.

I hire them as coaches. I spend time with them. I soak up how they move, how they visualize, how they hold themselves when the trails get technical or the going gets tough.

Spend enough time in that orbit, and it starts to rub off on you. After all, it’s science.

Make this the season you don’t do it alone

So here’s my invitation to you this season:

Stop trying to white-knuckle confidence on your own. Stop expecting information to do the job of experience. Stop looking at coaching as tactics to consume instead of an operating system you adopt. Spend time on the trails with a mentor.

I can think of at least two great ways to do exactly that, and they’re linked below.

Full Circle Coaching Program Global MTB Expeditions

Your confidence is closer than you think, and if you're one of the lucky few, it just might be riding beside you.